Macron’s honeymoon OVER: French leader in POLL SLUMP as he faces huge backlash over cuts
EMMANUEL Macon’s honeymoon period could have come to an abrupt end as resistance against his ambitious reforms has started in France with proposed strikes and protests.
By LAURA MOWAT
Express.co.uk
Sun, Jul 23, 2017
In May, Centrist Emmanuel Macron at the age of 39 became the youngest president in the history of France and came to power on a promise of political renewal.
Although the has spent recent weeks working on his international image entertaining Donald Trump and attending summits, the cracks in his own country have begun to show.
A poll released today showed his popularity had slumped by 10 points – the biggest decline for a new president since 1995.
Mr Macron has faced a backlash over his ambitious proposals to cut the military’s budget by about £897million by the end of the year.
The head of the French armed forces, General Pierre de Villiers, resigned last week as he accused the President of insubordination over proposals to slash the military’s budget.
The army chief had a standoff with Mr Macron over his proposed defence budget cut that he said would “cripple” the armed forces.
He said that he no longer felt capable of assuring the continuation of the military model required to protect France.
Christelle Craplet, a pollster at BVA institute in Paris, said: “It sends a negative signal and shows dissent at the helm of the state.
“Macron is at a crucial moment: the end of the political honeymoon with voters and the beginning of the reality.”
France’s second biggest union, the CGT, has called for strikes and protests in September in opposition to Labour reforms.
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